


what does it mean to be free?

by seijhoes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Fluff, MAJOR CH 137 SPOILERS !!!!, Reunions, Ymir and Historia deserve happiness, do not read if you're not caught up with the manga!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:13:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29508828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seijhoes/pseuds/seijhoes
Summary: Upon Ymir waking up, she had two thoughts. Her first thought was Historia, as usual. Her second thought was along the lines of ‘Where the hell am I?’ **MAJOR CH. 137 SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!**Or, a canon-divergence au where the titan shifters that come back to help during the fight in chapter 137 actually get to come back and stay after the Curse of Ymir is broken. Which means that Ymir can be with Historia (fucking finally).
Relationships: Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir
Comments: 9
Kudos: 67





	what does it mean to be free?

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly cannot say why I felt so compelled to write this, maybe inspiration after the most recent episode with Historia and all, and how absolutely pissed Ymir would be, which turned into this. I love Yumihisu, and they deserved a much better ending (which, we'll never get in canon so fiction has to be our source of comfort), so here it is. I also contemplated adding a part where Ymir somehow tracks down this farm boy and rocks his shit, but it didn't make it into the final cut. So, if it's wanted I'll probably add another part or something. Hope y'all enjoy!
> 
> (also, once again, major anime spoilers and manga spoilers for 137, you've been warned)

Upon Ymir waking up, she had two thoughts. Her first thought was Historia, as usual. Her second thought was along the lines of ‘Where the hell am I?’ 

When she opened her eyes, she wasn’t met with the starry and colorful sky of Paths, but a plain colored ceiling. She wasn’t surrounded by sand, but white linens, and a pillow underneath her head. She sat up cautiously, on the alert almost immediately. She remembered a bit; Armin appearing in Paths and asking for their help to take down Eren. After that, it was fuzzy, and now she was in a random room in some place she didn’t know.

“Well, looks like you’re finally awake now too.” 

Ymir whipped her head around, looking for the source of the voice, where she saw the guy who ate her, Galliard, in a bed next to hers. At least he looked as confused as she was, but he looked like he’d been awake for a while, so maybe he could yield some answers. “What is this place? Where the hell are we?”

Porco sighed, running a hand through his bedhead. “We’re in Liberio, these are the barracks where the Warrior candidates train.. I used to live here. As for why we’re here, I have no idea, everything’s a little fuzzy.”

Liberio didn’t ring any bells, but it wasn’t Paradis, she knew that much. “Yeah, same here.. Fucking hell.”

It was quiet for a moment, and it looked like he was about to say something else until the door opened, and a young boy, who looked to be about eleven or twelve, opened the door. Ymir recognized him too, he was Galliard’s brother (aka the one that she ate, yeah, how was that for awkward). She saw him smile and run towards his brother’s bed, leaping onto it and giving him a hug, which Galliard returned. Ymir didn’t exactly want to be here during this family reunion, and she still demanded answers, so she climbed out of bed and made her way to the door, where she was met with another girl, looking about Ymir’s age. She had long black hair, and leaned on a crutch for support. 

“Oh, sorry.” The girl said, and it sounded as if she had just gotten out of bed herself. “Is Pock awake? I saw Marcel run in there, so…”

“Pock? Oh, uh, yeah he’s awake.” Assuming that was some nickname for Galliard that was an inside thing. Still, it was a fucking weird nickname. “You can go in, I was heading out.”

The girl smiled and started going in, though not before turning around and holding out her hand. “I’m Pieck.”

“Ymir.” She took her hand hesitantly, shaking it. 

“I know you were the one Pock ate, to get Jaw back, and you were one of Reiner’s friends.” Pieck smiled at her. “I’m just glad that we’re all on the same side.”

“Right..” She let go of her hand, walking backwards into the hallway. “So, where are the others? Assuming they’re here.”

“Conference room, down the hall. It’s the last door on the left, near the stairs.”

“Thanks.” She nodded and walked off down the hall, following Pieck’s directions until she reached the door. She heard voices behind it, and didn’t hesitate in the slightest to barge in, pausing in the doorway.

Honestly, she never thought she’d see any of these guys again. There was Armin, Mikasa, Connie, Jean, Reiner, and even Annie too. Captain Levi sat in the corner, staring blankly out the window with his one good eye.

“Ymir! Glad to see you’re awake.” Armin greeted her excitedly, motioning for her to sit down with the rest of them.

She awkwardly took a seat next to Annie, who merely nodded at her, and looked around at everyone else, who were looking at her like she had grown a second head. “What?”

“Just, good to see you, that’s all.” Connie spoke up, offering a grin. “You really helped save our asses out there, though, you seem to be good at that.” 

Ah, he was referencing the time where she had to expose her titan form to save them from the titans at Utgard Castle. “Don’t mention it, seriously. I mostly did it for Historia-” And there she was, back to her first thought when she woke up; Historia. “Where is she?”

“Historia? She’s back in Paradis.” Armin said, sipping his tea. “She’s safe.”

“Can you promise that?” She was growing antsy now. She potentially had the opportunity to see Historia after so much time apart, and she didn’t want to go back only to find that she had died, or something.

“I can, I swear.” He smiled kindly at her. “She was put in a safe house after she got pregnant-”

“After she got _what???”_ She stood up quickly, startling Annie. “What the hell are you talking about Arlert? Somebody better start talking right now or I swear-”

“It was Eren’s idea.”

Everyone looked in Mikasa’s direction, who was staring down at her lap. “They were going to force her to eat Zeke and inherit the Beast Titan so there would be a titan with royal blood, and then they’d make her give birth to as many children as possible. He didn’t want her to have to go through that, so he suggested that she get pregnant to avoid it for as long as she could.”

Ymir felt sick. They were just going to use Historia like that so that they could force her to be some sort of baby machine? “Please don’t tell me that Jaeger was the father.”

“Oh, god no.” Armin shook his head. “It was some boy that she grew up with on the farm she was raised on.”

She let out a sigh of relief, but her blood wasn’t done boiling. Some random dude had knocked her up? At the suggestion of Eren Jaeger no less, who was less than trustworthy in her eyes as of late. First, she’d knock Eren’s ass out, then this farm boy, whenever they got back to Paradis. “So, where is Jaeger? I got a bone to pick with him.”

The room went uncomfortably silent as they all took interest in something random. She narrowed her eyes, leaning back against the couch. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”

Reiner nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. “We blew him up..”

“Got it.. Well, when are we going back to Paradis?” 

“Well, probably as soon as possible.. As you can imagine, Marleyan officials aren’t too happy with having their citizens driven into the ocean and crushed beneath the feet of dozens of colossal titans..” Armin sighed. “We’ve been trying to talk peacefully with them but they won’t hear it, but… For now, we’re offering anyone who wants to come back to Paradis with us from Marley can do so.”

She sighed. “I was hoping you were going to say like, today.”

He chuckled. “I understand, but we’re waiting for everyone to recuperate, plus transportation is an issue and-”

“I got it, Arlert.” She held up her hand, standing up. “Thanks.”

“Sure, and I promise I’ll let you know if there are any changes.” He smiled kindly at her, and she felt some of her anxiety dissipate. Armin wouldn’t lie to her, he’d always been alright in her book.

“Yeah, okay..” Ymir just hoped it wasn’t too long.

***

It was a couple weeks longer than Ymir would have liked, but Armin managed to secure an airship for them to go back to Paradis on. Who knew this scrawny kid had become the 15th Commander of the Survey Corps?

The airship was also slightly crowded, as there were apparently a lot of people that they were taking back with them from Marley. There was their original group, plus Reiner’s family, Annie’s dad, and the rest of the Warriors. Some of them made small talk with each other, or slept, or whatever, but Ymir couldn’t bring herself to do any of those things. Not when her mind was plagued with thoughts of Historia, whether or not she was hurt, or worse, and how far along was she? Did she actually want a baby? Did she feel anything for that stupid farmhand that got her pregnant? All these thoughts and more were swimming around in her head, causing her to be more anxious and on edge. 

Soon enough, the island of Paradis came into view, and some of that tension once again went away. Armin had written a letter beforehand, hoping that it got to someone there, and thankfully it had. Some of the remaining soldiers on the island were there to greet them with horses for the long trek back to the capitol city. 

To be fair, there had been a fair bit of destruction from where the colossal titans had trampled over the land, and there were more than a few casualties because of that. But, other than that, Paradis was untouched. More importantly, the capitol was untouched.

It took a day or two to reach the capitol, thankfully untouched, and they were greeted with the queen’s guards, who promptly escorted them to the throne room. Ymir really hadn’t gotten a chance to see Historia in her new digs, or as a queen. She swallowed, would Historia even want to see her? Had she gotten her letter? She had forgotten to ask Reiner, but she hoped that he managed to deliver it somehow.

“Your majesty, you have visitors.” One guard announced gruffly, stepping aside to let Historia see them.

Ymir could have cried, she almost did, seeing her. Historia was sitting on the throne, her hair pinned back neatly and wearing a white cardigan around the green military uniform. Next to the throne, a bassinet, where she could hear a baby gurgling softly.

Historia scanned through the sea of faces, smiling in recognition at some, showing some confusion at some of the new faces, and then her gaze reached her. Her blue eyes widened, hesitant, like she didn’t want to believe that Ymir was in front of her. She rose slowly from the throne, and then ran to her, tears streaming down her face as she reached out to her. “Ymir!”

She laughed, wrapping her arms around her tightly. “Aw, you remember my name, amazing considering you probably gotta know everyone in Paradis huh?” She had to tease her, it was just her nature.

But Historia didn’t scold her, she just laughed some more and peeked up at her. God she was gorgeous, maybe even more so than the last day they saw each other, if that was possible. “You look good, your majesty.”

“H-How? How are you here? I-I thought…” She trailed off, not wanting to say what they both knew she was thinking.

“Well, to be honest, I’m not really sure either.” She chuckled, “I just know that I helped take down Eren, and then I wake up in Marley, to make a long story short.”

Historia smiled, pulling back to look at them all. “Well, I’m sure I’ll get the full story at some point… In the meantime, there’s somebody I want you guys to meet.” She smiled and went to the bassinet, scooping up the baby and walking back over. 

Ymir peeked into the bundle of blankets, tilting her head. She had never found babies particularly cute, but she could make an exception for this one, since they had Historia’s genes. “Cute.”

“Right? She is precious…” Historia smiled warmly at her daughter, and then Ymir. “Though, this is a little awkward.”

“Oh? Why?”

She started laughing a bit. “Her name is Ymir.”

She blinked, snorting as some of the others started to laugh as well. “Huh, well ain’t that something? That’s gonna be a little confusing isn’t it?”

“To be fair, I thought you were gone, and I wanted your legacy to go on.” She chuckled, holding up baby Ymir. “Do you want to hold her?”

Ymir sighed, carefully and hesitantly taking the baby into her arms. “Whoa…”

“Careful, support her head.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it..” She did as told, supporting little Ymir’s head. Just then, her eyes opened and blinked curiously at her namesake, the two just staring at each other. 

“Huh.. Isn’t this something…” She smiled a bit, letting her grab her finger. “You’re gonna be fine kid, just fine..” She looked around at her friends, at Historia, and then back down at this little baby, born into a new world. A world where they would know no suffering, or pain, or discrimination. Who would have thought that a baby born of a bastard child and named for an orphan that had nothing would end up a princess?

Ymir tucked the child closer to her, closing her eyes as she bounced her. “You’re free..” She whispered.

**Author's Note:**

> also bonus points for anyone who caught what I did there at the end hehe
> 
> talk with me about aot or just about anything on twitter @/seijhoe_


End file.
